SCIENTISTS AND RESEARCHERS (WISSENSCHAFTLICHE MITARBEITER)

We provide refund claim services for people working as in the science industry in Germany either as scientists or researchers (wissenschaftliche mitarbeiter). Depending on the type of contract you are on, you may be classified either as an employee or self-employed.

Self-employed workers don’t have income tax deducted from their income and are subsequently obliged to file a tax return by 31st May during the following year.

We can help you claim back any overpaid taxes and ensure that you are compliant and have met your filing responsibilities as a self employed scientist. If you’re an employee, we can make sure that you haven’t paid too much income tax.

Our service for scientists also includes a review of any work-related expenses that may be used to help reduce your overall tax liability for the year including:

Travel to work expenses

Textbook costs

Tuition fees and fees for courses taken to get or improve skills in an occupation

German Scientist FAQ

?When can I get my tax back?

If you are currently working in Germany then you can get your refund at the end of the tax year.If you want to apply for a refund from the last five years, you can apply now. Download your tax pack to get started.

?When does the German tax year start and end?

The German tax year runs from January 1st to December 31st.

?What is the May 31st deadline?

This is the deadline you must file your self assessed income tax return by. If you don’t have your return filed by this date you could incur penalties and late fees.

?What should I do if I didn’t file my return before the May 31st deadline?

The best thing to do is to use a tax advisor such as taxback.com as this will extend your filing deadline to December 31st of the following year. Doing this means you won’t be charged penalties and late fees.

?How does Taxback.com work?

1. Register online and fill out your German tax pack. 2. Send us your documents and signed forms – we then issue your online Tax Tracker account. 3. Spend time doing the things you love while we do all the work and get you the maximum tax refund possible.

?How much will it cost?

For tax refunds from Germany, we charge 16.5% + handling fee of the refund received, subject to a minimum fee of €50 + handling fee.Our tax calculator however will always be available to you as a free, no obligation tool for estimating your tax refund. Check it out.

?Why the minimum fee?

Our fee allows us to offer you all the valuable taxback.com services you enjoy using, such as:

Customer support

Online tracking service in seven languages

Free phone and free fax

Local staff to help you in 18 offices worldwide

Tax technicians

Researchers to identify new legal developments to maximise your refunds

A tax return is document outlining your taxation liability while a tax refund is the money returned to you if you’ve made an overpayment for a certain tax. We file your tax return in order to apply for your tax refund.

?What payment documents do I need to apply for my tax refund?

To claim your German tax refund we'll need your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung and a statement or proof of payment outlining how much you earned in each place you worked as self employed.

?What is a Lohnsteuerbescheinigung?

This is the official government form that you receive from your employer at the end of the tax year which outlines your earnings and the amount of tax you paid in that year.

?What if I’ve lost my documents or never got them?

If you've mislaid your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, or you never got it, our document retrieval service can locate replacements for you.

?How much money will I get back?

That depends on the individual circumstances of your case but we assure you we will get you the maximum legal tax refund possible. Our customers get back €1950 on average.

?Can I get back work-related expenses?

Yes, if you are self employed you can claim back work related expenses. Your expenses are a vital part of your tax return and claiming them back could significantly reduce your tax liability. Forgetting to claim them could mean sacrificing hundreds or even thousands of Euro in your tax refund.

?What kind of work related expenses can I claim back?

The type and number of expenses you can claim back will depend on your job. Some expenses which you could claim back include:

Travel expenses

Work uniform/clothing expenses

Training costs

Accommodation expenses

?I have worked only couple of weeks as self-employed - do I have to declare this income and file a tax return?

Yes, the institution where you have worked on a project, done research or lectured is obligated to provide your self-employment income details to the tax office, so its better for you to file a tax return and claim all expenses that will help reduce your overall tax liability for the year.

?Can you guarantee that I'll receive the refund amount you estimated for me?

Our estimation is based on years of tax calculations, so it’s a pretty close estimate of what you’ll get back, but unfortunately it’s not guaranteed. However, we will make sure to get you back the biggest tax refund legally possible by completely analysing your case and applying all tax deductions and benefits you’re entitled to.

?How long will it take to receive my German tax refund?

On average it takes about 2 to 4 months to get your German tax refund.

?What happens during this time?

We receive your documents and our certified public accountant checks them to ensure they’re tax complaint. Then we send them to the German tax office. This takes a week.Once the tax office has your application, it takes them 7 to 15 weeks to process your application and send your tax refund on to us.Once we have your refund, we’ll contact you to set up the easiest way to send it to you.

?It seems like my refund is taking a long time – where’s my refund?

This is usually due to delays in the tax office. Unfortunately there’s not much we can do about that other than ring up the tax office every day to make sure they hurry up with your refund, and we will do this!

?Can I get my tax back myself?

You could; every tax office is set up to receive independent applications, but it’s a bit of a hassle if you’re not familiar with German tax law and tax codes. It will involve a lot of hours sitting at a computer screen searching for forms, decoding confusing tax law and calling tax help-lines to get answers.

If that sounds like too much stress to you, then why not save yourself the hassle and let our tax experts here at taxback.com speed through all the paperwork to file your return quickly and easily.

We also provide German Pension Refunds

If you're a resident of a non-European Union country and have worked in Germany, you may have paid into a pension fund. Pension Insurance Contributions, which are referred to as ‘Rentenversicherung’ in Germany, are typically around 9.75% of your salary. Once you have left Germany for at least two years, we can apply to get your pension payments refunded. Find out more about German pension refunds here.

Find Out More

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Check out our Contact Us page for your nearest office

Useful German Scientists Facts

The tax year in Germany is from January 1st to December 31st.

If you are self-employed you can claim back work-related expenses

To claim back your expenses we'll need your receipts and records of your income and expenditure

To claim your German tax refund we'll need your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung which is the official government form that you receive from your employer at the end of the tax year

We provide tax refunds from 13 different countries

Find Out More

Germany isn’t the only country we have a tax refund service for. We provide tax refunds for 16 countries worldwide. Our European tax refund countries include Belgium, Holland, Ireland and Norway. Further afield, we provide tax refunds for the US, Australia, Canada and the UK. If you’ve ever worked anywhere apart from Germany, let us know. The more tax refunds you can apply for, the more money you could get back. Find out more here.

TAXBACK.COM Reviews & Feedback

Customer Corner

27 February 2019

Rebecca Colcloughrebecc

I admirer how well your staff members communicate with there clients one lady in particular was great help to me and very kinda and well mannered her names was mairead Morgan thankyou for your amazing service I will be recommending this site

22 February 2019

Carey Corlett-Donald

Straight forward and good service from agents

20 February 2019

Basil Glennon

My agent was very helpful , efficient and professional .

14 February 2019

Jack

So fast easy and reliable. They do all the work and handle everything with ease. They just took the info I provided and got back to me with a larger then expected figure of tax back. Couldn't be happier at recommend enough

14 February 2019

Niamh O Connell

The whole process is quick and easy. The agents are fantastic to deal with and really helpful. I have been using Taxback.com for years now and have no intention to ever change. The level of customer services and communication is brilliant. I am always kept up to date as soon as information is available.

01 February 2019

Yeshi

Customer Service

31 January 2019

Breana Field

The personal communications from your agents made all the difference in my choice to use TaxBack. Overwhelmed with what should have been a simple process due to an error going back several years in my taxes, I gave up doing them myself and handed it over to TaxBack. I was assured all 3 years would be fixed and my refunds recieved. Once I handed over my paperwork I never had to ask about updates or remind my agent to do anything - they were so on top of it and made it so easy! Matthew Lloyd was especially helpful and I can't thank him enough for his continued clear communications and patient explanations which saved me so much time!

30 January 2019

Umidjon Otayorov

Tax Tracker service

24 January 2019

Stephen Rocliffe

Taxback.com has been so , so easy to use and understand . My agent Yordan Marinov was very helpful and had great patience with me as I'm not very good at doing anything like this on line .I have already told friends and family about Taxback and that they should use them .So easy and uncomplicated .

23 January 2019

Justin David Tieng

The agents are super helpful and efficient. I would rate them 8.5/10 .

23 January 2019

Gary Walsh

Spot on. Very professional and efficient. Felt as if the organisation had my best interests at heart.